Submitted by James W. Norris
An Oration by Dr. John Savage
with related correspondence
Published in the Southern Telegraph - July 11, 1837
FOURTH
OF JULY 1 Although the celebration of our National Independence in
this place was signalized by no remarkable pomp and array, yet it
was conducted with a spirit of becoming animation and propriety.
According to previous arrangement, at 10 o'clock A. M. the Rodney
Guards and citizens formed a procession in front of the Mansion
House, and marched to the church. After prayer by the Rev. Mr.
Russell, the Declaration of Independence was read by I. Shelby
Reed, Esq., and an eloquent oration pronounced by Dr. John H. Savage
which will be found in our columns to-day, together with the
correspondence soliciting the same for publication. In the
afternoon, the Guards and some of the citizens partook of a
plentiful repast prepared in the church grove -- Dr. Chas. B. New,
acting as President, and Mr. Wm. Lape as Vice-President. We have
not been favored with sentiments drank on the occasion. We
understand that the best of feeling prevailed at the time, and that
nothing occurred to interrupt the friendly relations and patriotic
demonstrations of the party.
CORRESPONDENCE
Rodney, July 6,
1837
Dr. John H. Savage-- Dear Sir: Suffer us, on the behalf
of the Guards, to express our gratitude for the eminent pleasure
your address has afforded us, and assure you that we feel deeply the
importance of disseminating sound and ennobling principles of
patriotism. Such principles, your eloquent address cannot fail to
inculcate. That the public may enjoy the gratification which you
have afforded us, we respectfully solicit a copy of your oration
delivered on the 4th instant for publication. With sentiments of
high esteem, we are, dear sir,
Your obliged,
Humble
servants,
C. B. NEW
WILLIAM LAPE
JAS. M.
KNIGHT Rodney, July 6, 18372
Gentlemen: Your note has just
been received, requesting a copy of the Oration delivered by me on
the 4th inst. The highly flattering terms in which you have been
pleased to communicate your request, are due rather to the occasion
and subject, than to any merit which it may possess as a
performance. I submit it, therefore, with diffidence, to your
disposal, and would remark, that it was prepared amidst professional
engagements and some little indisposition, which I hope will be an
apology for the many defects, which I am but too sensible, it
contains. With great esteem,
Your friend and fellow citizen,
JOHN H. SAVAGE To Dr. New, and Messrs. Jas. M. Knight, and Wm. Lape, Committee
Fellow-citizens: We have assembled here this morning to celebrate
the anniversary of no ordinary event. The glad voices of a great
and powerful people are this day proclaiming a nation's joy; the
rich and the poor, the proud and the humble, have forgotten their
distinctions , and are mingling their distinctions, and are
mingling their loud acclamations together; the roar of artillery,
the discharge of musketry, announce the commemoration of a glorious
era; and the tears of a few hoary headed veterans, more eloquently
than all, are speaking the fullness of their hearts. And wherefore
come these enthusiastic demonstrations of joyful feeling? Is it to
bind the laurel wreath around the blood-stained brow of some
military chieftain? Or is it to pour the syren song of adulation
into the ears of some favorite prince? Ours is no idle and
unmeaning pageant, where the eye is dazzled, but the heart is
unmoved. We have met, not to do honor to the living, but to pour
incense of gratitude over the graves of departed heroes; not to
signalize some victorious achievement, but to celebrate the triumph
of freedom. We have assembled, fellow-citizens, to commemorate the
birth day of our National Independence; to call up to our grateful
recollections the memories of those illustrious men who nobly
achieved it, and to impress on our minds a more solemn regard for
those sacred principles of liberty which belonged to the fathers of
our country. In order to appreciate properly our exalted privileges
as a people, it were necessary only to glance for a moment at
Europe, and compare the condition of the most enlightened nations of
that quarter, with the more favored destiny of our own country. If
we caste our eye at England, the mother of our language, and once
the mistress of our soil, we behold her reeling under a national
debt, the interest of which, with her vast resources, she is
scarcely able to pay; a few rioting in luxury and wealth, the many
taxed for the benefit of the few; a clergy, who teach the divine
precepts of charity and benevolence, absorbing the hard earnings of
the poor. If we look to Ireland, unhappy Ireland, the land of poets
and orators, of Emmet and Fitzgerald, we see her bowed down beneath
the iron yoke of oppression, and we hear the moans of her brave, but
suffering sons, wafted upon every breeze. If we look at France, we
behold her giant energies at one moment, convulsed with
revolutionary struggles, and at another slumbering with apathy in
the arms of despotism; torn by factions, and shaken by the
intestine commotion; her people too proud to be slaves, not
virtuous enough to be free. If we look at Spain, and Portugal, and
Italy, the picture is still more gloomy -- their glory has departed,
and the lustre of their fame has passed away amidst the darkness of
ignorance, and bigotry, and superstition. Turn your eyes now to
your own country, and how gratifying the contrast. Her rulers are
not her masters, but her agents. She has no haughty aristocracy to
engross her honors, and usurp her power; no standing army to feed
upon her industry; no idle clergy to banquet upon the proceeds of
the poor man's labor: -- but in place of them she offers competence
to industry, wealth to enterprise, honors to the deserving, liberty
to all. This, then is our inheritance, and for this we have reason
to rejoice.
In casting our eyes back to the early history
of our country, and viewing it through all of its trying struggles
and <illegible> disasters, from its origin to the establishment of
our National Independence, it seems more like a beautiful and
thrilling tale of romance than the sober realities of history. We
behold a few firm and independent men, leaving the homes of their
youth and the burying places of their fathers, to seek in a new
world and in a far distant wilderness, another home for themselves
and their posterity. Some of them were prompted to engage in this
perilous enterprise from pious motives and from a hope to enjoy that
liberty of conscience which they were denied in the country of their
ancestors; while others were allured by the novelty of the
undertaking or the hope of gain. Privations which might have
deterred even the stout hearted -- difficulties at which the spirit
of enterprise might have faltered -- and dangers at which even the
boldest might have felt alarm, had no terrors for these undaunted
men. In despite of every sacrifice and discouragement, they
accordingly undertook their voyage across the Atlantic, and arrived
in the depth of winter upon a stony shore. Three thousand miles
now, from the land of their ancestors, with no aid to rely upon but
the God in whom they trusted, a trackless wilderness covered with
snow, stretching out in gloomy and illimitable distance before them,
the horrors of famine impending over them, and to complete the
catalogue of the difficulties, an Indian foe to contend with, how
appalling was the prospect -- how formidable and terrific was the
dangers of their situation. But they met them with fortitude, and
endured them with patience and perseverance; and at last they
succeeded, after years of toil, of privation, and of bloody
conflict, in establishing themselves in comparative comfort and
independence. How often have you, my fellow-citizens, gathered
around the evening fire sides of your fathers, and listened with an
eager ear and with an intense and chilling interest to the
chivalrous deeds and the daring exploits of the first settlers of
Kentucky? The names of Boone, and Harrod, and Logan, call up to
your vivid fancies, the soul-stirring incidents, the intrepid
achievements, the fierce and desperate encounters which belong to
"the dark and bloody ground" -- and yet, in comparison with the
first settlement of Virginia and Massachusetts it has more the
character of romantic and dangerous enterprise, than that of the
heart chilling expatriation of the forefathers of our country, their
helpless separation from the world of white men, and the gloomy
sacrifice of all that is dear to the human heart. Notwithstanding,
however, the almost insurmountable difficulties , which the two
provinces of Virginia and New England had to encounter, their
numbers soon began to increase; other colonies were established by
new emigrants, and the cultivation of the soil not only yielded
sufficient for their own consumption, but afforded some for export.
The various colonies which in progress of time were scattered along
the coast, soon began to wear an aspect of prosperity; and while the
planters were realizing the comforts of life, and gradual
accumulation of property, they were able, by their contributions to
add something to the revenue of the mother country. As the
condition of the colonies improved, the spirit and feelings of the
inhabitants became more independent; and on the other hand, we find
from the very commencement of the growth and prosperity of the
colonies, a disposition was manifested on the part of the mother
country to tyrannize over and oppress them. Commercial
restrictions, oppressive taxation, and arbitrary laws seem to have
characterized the policy of England at an early period of the
existence of the colonies. But they never were quietly or tamely
submitted to. When the colonies scarcely numbered a handful of men,
we see them standing forth openly, and asserting their rights,
resisting oppression, and ready to maintain at every hazard the
privileges which belonged to them. It would afford a subject no
less interesting than instructive, to contemplate these colonies
from the first moment of their political existence -- to observe
their spirit of freedom in its infant state -- to see their
principles unfolding as they advance -- and finally, to behold how
these characteristic qualities which distinguish them in mature age,
were successively acquired. But I must pass over many of the
interesting events connected with the early history of our country,
to those of a period more immediately connected with the glorious
occasion which has this day called us together. For some years
previous to the breaking out of open hostilities between the
colonies and England, it is well known to you, fellow-citizens, that
the former had been subjected to the exercise of arbitrary power and
of almost every species of oppression until it became a burden too
heavy to be borne. The particular aggressions upon our rights have
been clearly set forth in the sacred Declaration of Independence
which you have just heard so eloquently read. Petitions for redress
were sent to the throne, and they were trampled upon with silent
contempt; remonstrations were made to the British Parliament, and
they were answered with contumely and reproach. The duty on tea was
reserved, after every other injury had been heaped upon our devoted
countrymen, to furnish occasion to the ministry for a new effort to
enslave and ruin them. A cargo of their tea was shipped to Boston,
for the purpose of ascertaining how far they could carry their acts
of oppression, and to what extent they could trample upon the rights
of an unoffending people with impunity. But the measure of
injustice and wrong was full to overflowing; the point of endurance
had been transcended, and the infant energies of an indignant people
which had been gathering like dark and portentous clouds, now burst
forth into unrestrained and open resistance. In the month of
December, 1773, the cargo of tea was thrown into the sea. It was
the first oblation on the altar of freedom. It was the first signal
in the glorious struggle for independence, and as they dashed the
poisoned chalice of oppression from their lips, the war shout of
liberty rung like a clarion through the land. The decisive step was
now taken -- the line was distinctly drawn between the friends of
liberty and its enemies -- and a trial, a fearful trial, was now to
be made whether it was to be a country of freemen or slaves. It
was a dark and gloomy period. An infant people scattered over a
widely extended territory, with scanty resources, surrounded by
warlike Indians, and with nothing but stout hearts and a good cause
to aid them, had now marshaled themselves in array against the most
powerful nation in the world. They knew well the disheartening
disadvantages under which they labored; they foresaw the dangers of
the contest, the difficulties, the sacrifices, the privations, which
they must encounter in the conflict -- but they weighed them with
the burden of tyranny and oppression under which they were then
groaning, and their choice was soon decided upon. "If we fail,"
(said one of the most illustrious patriots of that day) "if we fail,
it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause will
rise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people -- the
people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry
themselves gloriously through the struggle." "I know the people of
these colonies -- and I know that resistance to British aggression
is deep and settled in their hearts, and cannot be eradicated." It
is impossible, my fellow-citizens, to contemplate the fervent
patriotism, the glowing love of liberty, the heroic self-devotion
which breathed in every word, and animated every thought and act of
the illustrious men of this period, without mingled emotions of
wonder, of admiration, and gratitude. Who can call to his
recollections their bold defiance of danger, their unbending and
indomitable attachment to the holy cause which they had espoused,
and not feel his bosom burn with indignation at their wrongs, and
his heart pound with patriotic ardor? Who can remember their
voluntary exposure to every privation, and their contemptuous
disregard to all pecuniary considerations, without feeling elevated
by the purity of their sentiments? Who can call to mind their
unflinching firmness in every difficulty, and their patient
submission to every misfortune, and not feel a veneration for the
almost sublime intrepidity of their character? When we look back to
this solemn and gloomy period of our country's history, and behold
with the eye of fancy, the old revolutionary Congress assembled at
Philadelphia -- when we see the bold and determined, but anxious and
careworn countenances of Hancock, and Franklin, and Adams, and
Jefferson, and others, conferring together upon the best measures
for the welfare of their unhappy country -- when we imagine we hear
the impassioned strains of eloquence that burst forth from their
lips, summoning the friends of liberty to the rescue of their
country, and invoking the aid of Heaven with fervent solemnity, we
are constrained these mighty men as the commissioned agents of
Providence, to achieve its own holy and glorious purposes. Europe
looked on with astonishment, and the throne of Britain trembled with
dismay. They smiled with derision at our colonial Congress as an
assemblage of wild, and visionary, and ambitious politicians; but
they found it composed of profound statesmen, of able and ambitious
scholars, and of powerful and soul stirring orators. They sent out
troops to subdue a few refractory rebels, and they found men who
could not be conquered because they loved liberty better than life.
They expected to find a few ambitious and mercenary leaders, whom
gold would bribe into submission, and they found men who were
willing to sacrifice their fortunes and lives upon the altar of
their country. Bribe, did I say? During the siege at Boston, Gen.
Washington consulted Congress on the propriety of bombarding the
town. While the subject was undergoing discussion in Congress, Mr.
Hancock, with characteristic magnanimity, remarked: "It is true
that all the property I have in the world is in the houses and other
real estate in the town of Boston; but if the expulsion of the
British army from it, and the liberties of our country require their
being burnt to ashes, issue the order immediately." What an example
of noble disinterestedness, of patriotic self-devotion, is here, my
fellow-citizens. Would to God, that sentiments like this, could be
written upon the hearts of all Americans. Statesmen of this now
great and powerful Republic, will you not, as you assemble in that
city which takes its name from the father of this country -- will
you not, as you ascend the steps of the Capitol, the sacred temple
of your country's liberties -- will you not, as you take your seats
in the legislative halls of the nation, the venerable sanctuaries of
a people's rights -- will you not call to mind the noble
independence, the self sacrificing patriotism, which pervaded, and
animated, and inspired that little band of patriots which composed
the old Continental Congress? Will you not remember, that they
thought not of themselves, but of their country? That they sought
not honor, nor wealth, nor power for themselves -- but the
happiness, the prosperity, and freedom of their country? It was in
1775, that the Congress determined on prosecuting an open war with
Great Britain, and adopted energetic measures for raising troops.
The soil of Massachusetts was still wet with the blood which was
shed in the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. The
spirit of Warren, as it went up from the battle field of Bunker
Hill, hovered for a moment over his bleeding country, and then
descended into the bosom of Washington, as the patriot hero to
avenge his death and his country's wrongs. Washington received his
commission as commander-in-chief on the same day on which the
lamented Warren fell "in freedom's holy cause." The year 1776 set
in, in almost impenetrable gloom. Dark and heavy clouds were spread
over our political horizon. At times they became somewhat
dispersed, and the blue sky could be faintly discerned; but again it
was suddenly obscured, and a dark, cheerless gloom settled on the
face of our land. Congress again met. The hopes of the bold and
sanguine were not indeed shaken -- but the fears of the timid were
increased. It was as this inauspicious period that the subject of
the Independence of the Colonies was first discussed. It is true,
that the Independence of the Colonies, was not the object originally
contemplated by them. They would have been satisfied at first to
have been relieved of the grievances of which they complained. But
when they remembered how much they had suffered, and with what
patience they had endured -- when they found that the sword at last
must be drawn -- when they looked around upon the reeking altar of
their country, and heard its immolated victims crying to them for
revenge, they resolved that they would achieve their freedom or
perish in its cause. Congress accordingly declared the colonies
free, sovereign, and independent. This declaration, so unexpected,
burst from the Western hemisphere like a mighty thunderbolt, and
mingling with the quick and vivid flashes of a nation's wrath,
rolled in awful majesty across the Atlantic, and shook the thrones
of Europe to their centre. France listened, and she heard the roar
of the coming tempest; she gazed, and saw an infant people beneath a
tyrant's grip, struggling to be free; and, girding her armor, she
flew to the rescue. Great Britain began to discover that the
conquest of the rebellious provinces was no frivolous undertaking,
which could be accomplished by an ostentatious parade of military
power, and by empty threats of vengeance. She augmented the number
of her troops, and sent out a large naval force at once, as she
vainly hoped to overwhelm the colonies and terminate the contest.
But notwithstanding these vigorous exertions, the campaign of 1776,
gloomy and disheartening as it was in its commencement to the
American cause, terminated with brighter prospects, and with the
increased confidence of its friends, in the ultimate redemption of
their country. During this year, the surprise and capture of the
Hessian troops near Trenton, by Gen. Washington, revived the
drooping spirits of our suffering army, and stimulated our
countrymen to renewed devotion and more zealous activity in the
great cause which they had espoused. In reviewing at this period,
the history of this eventful struggle, and contrasting the
resources, the power, and the wealth of Britain, with the narrow and
limited means of an infant people -- the number of her disciplined
and well provided troops, with a far inferior force of the colonies,
without clothing and exposed to every want, it would seem surprising
that the operations of the British army were of so feeble and
indecisive character. But when we reflect upon the different
motives which animated the leaders and men of the two opposing
armies -- when we compare the activity of the provincial troops,
with the luxurious ease, the voluptuous dissipation, and profligate
licentiousness of the English General and his army, our surprise
ceases. While our devoted Washington, with his few, but gallant
men, half clothed, half starved, borne up by a love of country, and
urged on by an unquenchable hatred of tyranny, was enduring
hardships at which humanity shudders, Gen. Howe, with upwards of
thirty thousand men, was wasting time and the energies of his army,
in a life of gayety and pleasure. On the one side were arrayed men
who had been goaded into resistance, by repeated acts of injustice
and oppression; on the other, were the minions of power -- the mere
mercenary hirelings of an arbitrary monarch. On the one side were
men impelled by lofty feelings of patriotism, and animated by a
virtuous love of liberty; on the other were enlisted men who took no
interest in their cause, and who felt that they had nothing to gain
by success, and nothing to lose by defeat. Under circumstances like
these, temporary misfortune, occasional defeat, and a combination of
minor disadvantages, might indeed embarrass the operations of the
colonies, and protract the war -- but they could not overcome them.
They had erected in the new world, at temple of liberty; on its
summit waved their broad banner, and they were resolved, if they
must fall, at least they would fall with it. The contest went on;
every battle won fresh laurels to our heroes, and every campaign
inspired the friends of liberty with increased confidence in their
success. The haughty insolence of Britain felt humbled by her
defeat, and disdain began to soften down into a feeling of
compromise and concession. In 1778, she sent over commissioners
with conciliatory propositions, which were submitted to Congress.
The President returned an answer that they would maintain their
independence, and would accede to no proposition which did not admit
it. It would occupy more time than custom has allotted on these
occasions, to recapitulate to you, fellow-citizens, the many hard
fought battles and brilliant victories of our Revolutionary heroes.
But they need no repetition, for they are yet fresh in your
recollections, and will go down to posterity with the same unfaded
brightness. The battles of Brandywine and Bennington, of Saratoga
and Stillwater, of Monmouth and Yorktown, will live in story, and
give lustre to the page of history, when the thrones of royalty and
the sculptured monuments of military greatness shall have crumbled
into dust. The contest was over; the victory was won. At the close
of the siege of Yorktown, the last thunderbolt of the war had passed
away -- the clouds were dispersed -- and the sun of liberty rose
with resplendent brightness upon a free and happy land. But let us
not forget, fellow-citizens, to pronounce the illustrious name, and
do homage to him, who, it the dawn of manhood, surrounded by every
allurement of pleasure, enjoying all that the splendor of wealth or
the power of nobility could confer, was willing to forsake them all,
and in the day of its greatest darkness and peril, to embark on the
great cause of American Independence. He was no friendless wanderer
whom misfortune had driven from the land of his fathers -- he loved
the land of his nativity, and the valiant sons of France hailed him
as one of their favorite chiefs. But the cry of oppression reached
him from a distant shore -- the bugle of liberty sounded its
inspiring notes, and he hastened to obey its summons. He went to
the tombs of his ancestors, and he knelt over illustrious ashes
which reposed there; he turned to the cherished idols of his ardent
affection, and implored the blessings of Heaven upon them, and next
to them, upon the holy cause which he had espoused: he left them --
but not in sorrow; he felt his soul expanded and elevated by the
sacred fire which burned within him, and he longed to identify
himself with the little band of heroes in their noble struggle for
freedom. The winds of Heaven proudly wafted him over the ocean --
the land of his fathers faded in the dim distance, and a new land,
the future birthplace of liberty, was now before him and around
him. He went out to the great work in which he was to engage. He
had been nursed in the lap of luxury and ease -- but he cared not
for danger or fatigue. He shared in the toils and the dangers of
his fellow soldiers. He fought and bled with the champions of
freedom; he asked for no remuneration but the success of his
glorious cause, and he nobly obtained it. Future generations, while
they recount the deeds of valor and patriotism in the great struggle
for American Independence, will delight to dwell upon the name of La
Fayette, as the friend of liberty and benefactor of mankind. But
how shall I speak to you of Washington -- of him whose name is a
Nation's history -- whose character is its glory -- whose memory is
its treasure? If I say that he lived not for himself, but for his
country and the world -- if I say that the splendor of his public
life was equaled only by the purity of his private character -- if I
say that he combined in an eminent degree, those great qualities
which belong to the hero, the statesman, and the philanthropist --
your grateful hearts will call it poor praise. Be it so. To
appreciate his character fully, belongs only to futurity. Not until
after ages have enjoyed those blessings of civil liberty which it
was his glory to establish, can his praise be spoken, or the measure
of his fame be full. Ages shall pass away, but his name and glory
shall grow brighter and brighter. Like some great luminary, his
transcendent fame is destined to career to a place high in the
heavens, and to shed its mild and beneficent light on the most
distant nations of the earth. But, though our faltering tongues may
not speak his praise, though our best incense may be the silence of
grateful hearts -- yet, a solemn responsibility rests upon us,
fellow-citizens, to preserve inviolate and unimpaired, the rich
inheritance which has been handed down to us by Washington and his
associates. During a period of more than half a century, our
country has gone on triumphantly through the sunshine of peace and
the fearful storms of war. She has been honored by all nations.
Our commerce has extended to every portion of the globe, and "the
star spangled banner" has been hailed with respect in every clime.
Within our own State, even in the short period of time of your own
remembrance, what unexampled prosperity has prevailed. Our majestic
forests have given place to smiling fields, and the cultivated earth
has been made to give up its hidden wealth. Where but a short time
since stood the rude log-hut, now reared the lofty and elegant
mansion. Thriving and populous towns now occupy the places, where,
but a few years since, the Indians roamed in pursuit of game, or
mused perhaps in solitude or silence on the destinies of his fallen
race. If no great political calamity should befall this happy
country -- if no unhallowed inovavation3 upon our constitution -- no
reckless and visionary experiments should be madly attempted, what
exhilerating4 expectations, what bright and happy visions of the
future, may not be safely entertained. But without indulging upon
speculations of the future, let us endeavor to preserve at least the
noble patrimony which we have received from our ancestors. Let each
one of us, my fellow-citizens, consider himself personally
responsible, as one of the guardians of this priceless treasure.
Let us venerate the republican virtues of our fathers, and cherish
as the life blood of our institutions, those principles for which
they hazarded "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor." Guards! The great events which are connected with this
day's commemoration, address themselves with peculiar force to you.
The young men, in all ages, have been the hope of their country, and
the bulwark of its liberty. It was the young men in our country,
who first raised the spirit of rebellion and resistance against the
encroachments and aggressions of British power; it was the young men
of the Polytechnic school who first raised the standard of liberty
in Poland; and it is to you, as young men, that our country looks
for the preservation of its free institutions. The daring deeds of
your fathers -- their burning love of liberty -- the blood they shed
as ransom for your country -- call upon you this day, as citizen
soldiers, to renew those solemn pledges which in the darkest hour of
oppression, they made and gloriously deemed. The voices of the
veteran soldiers who fell in the revolution, come up from the hill
tops and the green fields, where their bones are mouldering5, and
call upon you this day, as their sons, to act as faithfull6 and
vigilant "Guards" over the liberties of your country. The sainted
spirit of Washington leans from the blue vault of Heaven, and bids
you this day stand up around the altar of freedom, and swear that
those glistening arms shall always be ready to defend it. But you
have anticipated the summons; your hearts are already beating with
patriotic ardor; your banner already waves proudly in the breeze;
and like a Spartan band, you stand ready for your country's call.
The chivalrous spirit which prompted the formation of your gallant
corps -- your excellent discipline -- and your lofty and martial
bearing, fully evince that spirit which animated the heroes of the
Revolution, still burns in the bosom's of their descendants. The
mantle of the sire's patriotism has descended fresh and unfaded7 to
the son. Go on, then, to your noble enterprize8. Let your
patriotic zeal stimulate you to increased exertion to prepare
yourselves for the service of your country. The illustrious
examples of Washington and La Fayette will shed a brilliant light
around your path, and will conduct you in your progress through
life, as citizens or soldiers, to a glorious march of honor and
renown. The father of the great Hannibal, on his death bed,
required his son to vow eternal hatred to the Romans. -- Your
fathers have left a better and wiser request; not to hate another
country -- but to love your own. Cherish it then, as a noble
inheritance -- as the holy sanctuary of the rights of man; cherish
it, for the inestimable privileges which it confers; cherish it, as
the asylum of the oppressed in every land; cherish it, as the
world's last, great hope in the permanency of a free, and happy, and
powerful Republic. Notes
1 Published in Southern Telegraph,
Rodney, Mississippi, on July 11, 1837. Transcribed by James W.
Norris, August 2003
2 The printed text gives the year as 1836,
but that date is clearly incorrect.
3 I have retained the
spelling in the original document at this point.
4 Also here as
well.
5 And here
6 And here
7 And here
8 And here
Contributor's note: The article was published in the Southern
Telegraph on July 11, 1837. Dr. Savage married my great
grandfather's aunt. Somehow or other, this newspaper survived in
family hands all these years. Dr. Savage died in the Yellow Fever
epidemic of 1843.